Friday, November 13, 2015

Declutter Update 5

I haven't posted about my decluttering projects for awhile. I did break for getting ready for the bazaar, but here is what is completed since the last update.
*We cleaned out the minivan and vacuumed it on the one year anniversary. It was really bad after being in the car so much during cross country season.
*I went through all my empty canning jars and organized them. I kept all the jam size and a few quart and pint size, but got rid of all the rest. I may regret that when I want to do canning and crafts, but for now I love all the extra space in my pantry! I really only use the jam size so it was ridiculous to have so many. I took them to our bazaar and they didn't even make it out to the sale, the lady that priced everything bought them for her daughter.
*I've been working on making recipes that use ingredients in my pantry. I made cranberry lemonade, chamomile lemonade, and Chex Mix. The Lambs loved all the "fresh" lemonade. It used cranberries from my freezer, chamomile tea, and fresh lemons that were on sale.
*I brought home some cookie cutters from my mom so I organized all that and got rid of the duplicates.
*The Lambs went through some of their dress up clothes/costumes and organized that.
*The Lambs went through their backpacks and bags and organized that.
*I organized the top shelf in the coat closet. This was mainly rewards for the Lambs. I organized their rewards and took out the prizes that were too babyish and I knew they would never pick them. I added all those to our Trunk or Treat. Our car was very popular with those prizes. I got rid of all those small prizes at Trunk or Treat. The kids loving picking a small toy instead of just more candy.
*I spent a day organizing our guest room. I still have some boxes to go through that I brought home from my parents, but the room isn't a complete disaster any more. Now I am ready to go through that one box at a time.
*I can't even tell you how much stuff I took to the bazaar, but it was a lot. I took a pair of lamps, a serving tray set, about 6 dozen canning jars, and bags and bags of misc. items and a few boxes of books. I was so happy that almost everything sold and helped the church make some money off of my junk treasures.
*All of the crafts that I took to the bazaar sold so I didn't have any to bring home and store here.
*Ram's parents came to celebrate my birthday and we gave some scrap wood to his dad and got it out of our garage.
*Ram had a set of two very large suitcases from when he studied in England. Since we have been married I don't know if we ever used them. We found the keys and donated them. They are too large to fly with today and too large to take in and out of hotels if you go anywhere by car. They took up a lot of space in the garage and I'm so glad they are gone.
*We took a few other items to donate when we took the suitcases. One was steps from when I did step aerobics at home. I only had a VHS for step aerobics so it was time for that to go.
*Ram took 3 1/2 boxes of books to the used bookstore and they wanted almost everything. We got $80 credit there.
*Lamb 3 decided to sell his Mickey Mouse scooter and buy a regular scooter. I took along a few other items to try to sell at the used kids store. Altogether we got almost $20 and I gave that to Lamb 3 towards his next scooter. He hasn't gone shopping for a new scooter yet. I was glad to get another large toy out of the garage-until it gets replaced with a new scooter.
*I began typing up the 700s in our library. I didn't realize how large this section is until I started typing them! When I am done typing up the list, I will reshelve them. I think I will find duplicates or books we no longer want while I am reshelving. This section contains books on art, music, games, and comic books.

A week after the bazaar I am very pleased with how much stuff we got out of our house and garage in the last month. It went to various places (thrift shop, used kids store for credit, used bookstore for credit, church bazaar, Ram's parents, and some was just trash or recycling). The important thing is that we got it out of our house and currently everything has been delivered where it was supposed to go. It doesn't seem like much progress until all that has been delivered and is no longer in the spot we set aside for give away stuff. It is not enough for me to decide to donate it, when it is finally out of the house is when I realize our progress.

My projects for the next week include:
*Finish organizing the 700 books.
*Try some of the ideas I was given for cleaning my glass shower doors and hopefully be successful this time.
*My freezer was cleaned out when the garage fridge died, but now I need to organize all the freezer stuff. I don't even know which freezer (inside house or garage) everything is in, much less Ram or the Lambs know. Everything fits, but it needs to be organized.
*Begin new bags/boxes to donate stuff as we go through it. We have a complete new start on this as everything is donated now.

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About Me

I have been married to my beloved for 15 years. We have 3 boys. We also have 11 miscarried children in heaven. My favorite part of the day is reading to my boys. I taught at a classical Lutheran school for 6 1/2 years and now I am a homeworker. I like aprons, books, scrapbooking, and tea.